Tony Blair banned fox hunting in 2004 after coming under pressure from an animal rights group the Labour party had accepted a large donation from, Lord Mandelson has claimed.
Peter Mandelson, the peer and former Labour MP, said the former prime minister included a commitment to hold a free vote on hunting with dogs in the 1997 manifesto after receiving money from an animal welfare fund.
Blair has said the fox hunting ban, which was finally enacted in 2004, was one of the policies he most regrets. Debate has since raged about whether the ban should be repealed, with the Conservative party previously having promised to hold a free vote on whether to do so while Labour say they will tighten loopholes in the ban.
Mandelson was speaking during a discussion on whether political donations can affect policy on the Times Radio podcast How to Win an Election.
He said: “I can offer you an example from 1997 where an organisation – it was a fund to do with the welfare of animals – got pretty transactional with us. It was the first and last time I remember this.
“They wanted a ban on hunting in return for a very sizeable amount of money. And Blair and co were sort of reluctant obviously to enter into some sort of trade over this policy.
“However, there were a lot of people in the party who wanted that ban – there were a lot of MPs coming and demanding it.
“And we got into a difficult situation where frankly we went a little bit too far – further than Blair wanted – in making this commitment in our manifesto. It was frankly under, not duress, but under some sort of pressure. It wasn’t attractive and it’s not been repeated.
Mandelson did not name the group responsible. However in 1996 Labour accepted £1m from Brian Davies, who founded the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Davies, who died last year, said in 2019: “This donation helped Labour win the election and go on to create the Hunting Act, which they had pledged to animal lovers across the UK.”
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A spokesperson for Blair said: “This is a misinterpretation of what was said, there was no such agreement. [Mandelson] is clearly saying there were a lot of people who had passionate views on the subject.”
Senior Labour figures believe the hunting ban created a rift between the party and rural voters for a generation. Despite the ban, animal rights campaigners say fox hunting continues to take place because of clauses in the bill that allow dogs to chase a scented cloth instead. Activists say this is used as a “smokescreen” to allow hunting to continue to take place.
Labour promised at the last election to tighten loopholes in the legislation by toughening penalties for those who break the laws it creates and introducing a clause that punishes those who “recklessly” allow dogs to kill foxes.
Party officials say they will keep those elements in the next manifesto, but do not intend to bring forward any other major piece of animal rights legislation which might further alienate rural communities.
